Among the questions I aim to address with this webliography are:
People consider opera to be an alienating art form- obscure and irrelevant.
Is that really true? I've decided, as a young person who has been raised on a
steady diet of operas, to try and address a few of these questions, providing a
list of the most comprehensive and engaging resources I could find on the matter.
The resources I have listed here are a mixed bag. I know from experience that a
beautiful and visually exciting performance can bring the most arcane Italian
drivel to life, and I have tried to include as many image-based resources as I could.
I have also tried to include some resources for the serious opera fan, or the novice
interested in further research. I tried, whenever I could, to include sites that provided
commentary and critical analysis of individual works- while critical analysis of novels
and plays abound, analysis of operatic work is largely absent form the public experience.
The only element that I feel this group of sites is really lacking are resources designed
especially for children- the web seems to have a big black hole that respect.
I also wish that I had been able to locate more information about contemporary operas, or the way operas are being staged and re-set to make them more relevant to a modern audience. Online Classics,which allows users to watch productions, was the closest I could come to that goal. While this webliography is suitable for users of all ages, it is best suited for teenagers on up.
These sites last visited: April 22, 2002.
|Betsy Farquhar|MLS Student| School of Information Science & Policy |
|Introduction| |Visual Resources| |Historical Resources| |Libretti, Commentary, and Analysis| |Entire List of Links|